Cabinet refrigerator with barriers for withholding air

ABSTRACT

A cabinet refrigerator ( 10 ) of the type open at the front and comprising a plurality of shelves ( 11 ) to define inside the cabinet refrigerator ( 10 ) a plurality of separated areas for accommodating and displaying the goods ( 20 ) provided with front openings for the direct removal of the goods ( 20 ), in which at each of the front openings of the areas for accommodating and displaying the goods ( 20 ) a fixed barrier element ( 12 ) is provided for withholding refrigerated air within the cabinet refrigerator ( 10 ), each barrier element ( 12 ) realising with the respective front opening of the areas for accommodating and displaying the goods ( 20 ) at least one passage ( 13′, 13″ ) for the direct manual removal of the refrigerated goods ( 20 ) from the cabinet refrigerator ( 10 ).

The present invention refers to an improved cabinet refrigerator.

Currently on the market, there are many different types of cabinet refrigerators, which can all be grouped however, into two categories.

The first category comprises the so-called “open” cabinet refrigerators, which are characterised in that there is no obstacle to remove between the product and the client.

Such open refrigerators thus have the advantage of making it possible for the user to take the product quickly and easily.

The second category comprises the so-called “closed” cabinet refrigerators, which are characterised in that they have a mobile access barrier, of the door type, between the product and the client.

In such a case, in order to reach the product, the client must provide for removing the barrier, i.e. open the door of the refrigerator, before removing the desired product.

Such closed refrigerators have the advantage of requiring low energy consumption to keep the displayed products at the required temperature.

Both of the categories listed above of cabinet refrigerators known today, have drawbacks.

In particular, open refrigerators require high energy consumption to keep the displayed products at the required temperature, whereas closed refrigerators force the client to remove the barrier, before having access to the product.

Disadvantageously, such a last operation usually requires the user to use both hands thus making the use of such closed refrigerators extremely awkward in the case in which the client is already holding other goods.

The purpose of the present invention is that of making an improved cabinet refrigerator that is able to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art in an extremely easy, cost-effective and particularly functional manner.

Another purpose is that of, making an improved cabinet refrigerator in which the products can be removed directly by the user without having to remove any protective element, as in the case of open refrigerators, and in which there is low energy consumption to keep the displayed products suitably refrigerated, as in the case of closed refrigerators.

These purposes according to the present invention are achieved by making an improved cabinet refrigerator as outlined in claim 1.

Further characteristics of the invention are highlighted in the subsequent claims.

The characteristics and the advantages of an improved cabinet refrigerator according to the present invention shall become clearer from the following description, given as an example and not for limiting purposes, with reference to the attached schematic drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of an improved cabinet refrigerator according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a partially sectioned schematic view of a second embodiment of an improved cabinet refrigerator according to the present invention.

With reference to the figures, two different embodiments of an improved cabinet refrigerator according to the present invention are shown indicated with reference numeral 10.

Such a cabinet refrigerator 10 is of the type open at the front and it comprises a plurality of shelves 11 suitable for defining inside the cabinet refrigerator itself a plurality of separated areas for accommodating and displaying goods 20.

By “open at the front” we mean that the cabinet refrigerator 10 of the present invention is of the type without a door at the front and/or other mobile protective elements that must be removed or moved by the user in order to be able to have direct contact with the displayed refrigerated goods.

In the embodiments shown in the figures, the displayed goods are represented as bottles but they could alternatively be any other type of goods to be sold refrigerated.

In particular, the cabinet refrigerator 10 of the present invention comprises :side containment walls 21, 22, with a vertical extension, a base that is generally provided with a unit 23 for conditioning air inside the cabinet refrigerator 10 itself, and an upper cover 24 possibly equipped with means for illuminating the displayed goods.

The structural elements listed above realise, with the shelves 11, a plurality of separated areas for accommodating and displaying goods 20 in which, not being there the front door in such a cabinet refrigerator 10, such areas for accommodating and displaying the goods 20 are open at the front so as to allow the user to directly remove the displayed goods 20.

The shelves 11 can be of any type, i.e. horizontal or slanted, all of the same size or with variable dimensions depending on the relative position inside the cabinet refrigerator 10.

In particular, according to the invention, at each of the front openings of the areas for accommodating and displaying the goods 20, it is foreseen for there to be a fixed barrier element 12.

Such a fixed barrier element 12 provides for withholding the refrigerated air inside the cabinet refrigerator 10.

Moreover, according to the invention, each barrier element 12 is shaped in a manner such as to define in the respective front opening of the areas for accommodating and displaying the goods 20 at least one passage 13′, 13″ so as to allow the user to directly remove the refrigerated goods 20 manually from the cabinet refrigerator 10.

Therefore, in other words, the fixed barrier elements 12 foreseen in the cabinet refrigerator 10 according to the present invention simultaneously obtain the advantageous effect of withholding the refrigerated air within the cabinet refrigerator 10, thus reducing the required energy consumption for controlling the temperature of the displayed goods, in any case allowing the client to directly reach the displayed goods manually without requiring him to first remove any mobile protective element.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a cabinet refrigerator 10 according to the present invention in which the fixed barrier elements 12 arranged at the front openings of the areas for accommodating and displaying the goods 20 comprise barriers 12′ extending substantially vertically associated at the lower part to the front portions of the shelves 11.

In such a way, as visible in FIG. 1, these barriers 12′, with the relative front openings of the areas for accommodating and displaying goods 20, make a front abutment for the displayed goods and simultaneously a substantially horizontal upper passage 13′ for the direct manual removal of the refrigerated goods 20 from the cabinet refrigerator 10.

In particular, such barriers 12′ have a substantially vertical extension at least equivalent to half the height of the front openings of the areas for accommodating and displaying goods 20.

The barriers 12′ preferably have an extension that is at least equivalent to three quarters of the height of the front openings of the areas for accommodating and displaying the goods 20.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of a cabinet refrigerator 10 according to the present invention in which the fixed barrier elements 12 arranged at the front openings of the areas for accommodating and displaying the goods 20 comprise barriers that are shaped in a manner such as to completely close the front openings of the areas for accommodating and displaying goods 20 and in which a plurality of openings to realise the passages 13″ for the direct manual removal of the refrigerated goods 20 from the cabinet refrigerator 10 are forthed in such barriers.

Therefore, even in such a case, these barriers equipped with the passages 13″ provide for withholding the refrigerated air within the cabinet refrigerator 10, thus reducing the energy consumption, and make it possible, in any case, for the client to come into direct contact with the displayed goods 20 without requiring him to remove any element.

According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the openings 13″ are arranged one after the other along a horizontal row.

In particular, each opening 13″ is formed at goods 20, which in turn are arranged on shelves 11 along rows facing towards the front openings of the accommodating and displaying areas.

Preferably, but not exclusively, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the shelves 11 are of the type slanted downwards, in a manner such as to ensure that the products can move towards the outside by falling, and provided with a plurality of guides or tracks that are parallel to each other and face outwards with respect to the cabinet refrigerator for the arrangement in parallel rows of goods 20 at the openings 13″.

Advantageously, according to what has been described above, subsequently to the removal of a product 20 from an opening 13″, the product 20 positioned behind the removed one will automatically move forwards by falling along the relative guide, positioning itself at the same opening 13″ without requiring the intervention of a worker.

As visible in the example of FIG. 2, such barriers 12 comprise a first portion 12″ associated at the lower part to the front portions of the shelves 11, and a second portion 12″ associated at the top or forming a single piece with the first portion 12″, which extends up to the upper end of the same front opening of the areas for accommodating and displaying the goods 20.

In such an example the openings 13″ are obtained on the second upper portion 12′″ of the barrier 12.

In order to ensure an easy removal of the goods 20, preferably, the first portion 12″ is slanted outwards with respect to the cabinet refrigerator 10, in a manner such as to make the goods 20 extend outwards, whereas the second portion 12′″ is slanted towards the inside of the cabinet refrigerator 10 in such a way that the openings 13″ are exactly above the displayed goods 20.

Finally, concerning the used materials, the fixed barrier elements 12 are preferably made of transparent plexiglass in a manner such as to allow the client to identify the products easily.

It has thus been seen that an improved cabinet refrigerator according to the present invention achieves the purposes previously highlighted.

Indeed the improved cabinet refrigerator according to the present invention allows the user to quickly and easily reach the product, like in the case of open refrigerators, requiring low energy consumption like in the case of closed refrigerators.

Such advantages are indeed guaranteed thanks to the fixed barriers 12 which are shaped in a manner such as to both withhold the refrigerated air within the cabinet refrigerator and allow the user to directly access the goods without removing any mobile element.

The improved cabinet refrigerator of the present invention thus conceived can undergo numerous modifications and variants; all covered by the same inventive concept; moreover, all the details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements. In practice the materials used, as well as the sizes, can be any according to the technical requirements. 

1-10. (canceled)
 11. Cabinet refrigerator (10) of the type open at the front and comprising a plurality of shelves (11) to define inside said cabinet refrigerator (10) a plurality of separated areas for accommodating and displaying said goods (20) provided with front openings for the direct removal of said goods (20), characterised in that at each of said front openings of said areas for accommodating and displaying said goods (20) a fixed barrier element (12) is provided for withholding refrigerated air within said cabinet refrigerator (10), each barrier element (12) realising with the respective front opening of said areas for accommodating and displaying said goods (20) at least one passage (13′, 13″) for direct manual removal of said refrigerated goods (20) from said cabinet refrigerator (10) characterised in that each fixed barrier element (12) comprises a barrier (12″) shaped in such a manner to completely close said front openings of said areas for accommodating and displaying said good (20), said barriers (12″) comprising a plurality of openings (13″) for the direct manual removal of said refrigerated goods (20) from said cabinet refrigerator (10).
 12. Cabinet refrigerator (10) according to claim 11 characterised in that said shelves (11) are inclined downwards in such a manner to guarantee the free forward movement of said goods (20) outwards with respect to said cabinet refrigerator (10) through the fall of the goods in question and in that they comprise a plurality of tracks parallel to each other and facing outwards with respect to said cabinet refrigerator (10) at at least one passage (13′, 13″).
 13. Cabinet refrigerator (10) according to claim 11 characterised in that said openings (13″) are arranged horizontally one after the other, each opening (13″) being provided at a row of said goods (20) arranged on said shelves (11) and arranged facing towards said front openings of said accommodating and displaying areas.
 14. Cabinet refrigerator (10) according to claim 11 characterised in that said shelves (11) comprise guides for positioning in a row said goods (20) at said openings (13″).
 15. Cabinet refrigerator (10) according to claim 11 characterised in that said barrier (12) comprises a first portion (12″) associated at the lower part to the front portions of said shelves (11), and a second portion (12′) associated at the upper part to said first portion (12″) which extends up to the upper end of said front openings of said areas for accommodating and displaying said goods (20), said openings (13″) being obtained on said second upper portion (12′) of said barrier (12).
 16. Cabinet refrigerator (10) according to claim 15 characterised in that said first portion (12″) is slanted outwards with respect to said cabinet refrigerator (10) and that said second portion (12′) is slanted inwards with respect to said cabinet refrigerator (10).
 17. Cabinet refrigerator (10) according to claim 11 characterised in that said fixed barrier elements (12) are made of plexiglass. 